e prepared for Napoleon. The
more humble apartments, in the Pavilion of Flora, were assigned to the
two other consuls. The transfer from the Luxembourg was made with great
pomp, in one of those brilliant parades which ever delight the eyes of
the Parisians. Six thousand picked soldiers, with a gorgeous train of
officers, formed his escort. Twenty thousand troops with all the
concomitants of military parade, lined the streets. A throng, from city
and country, which could not be numbered, gazed upon the scene. Napoleon
took his seat in a magnificent carriage drawn by six beautiful white
horses. The suite of rooms assigned to Josephine consisted of two large
parlors furnished with regal splendor, and several adjoining private
rooms. Here Hortense, a beautiful girl of about eighteen, found herself
at home in the apartments of the ancient kings of France.

In the evening a brilliant assembly was gathered in the saloons of
Josephine. As she entered, with queenly grace, leaning upon the arm of
Talleyrand, a murmur of admiration rose from the whole multitude. She
wore a robe of white muslin. Her hair fell in ringlets upon her neck and
shoulders, through which gleamed a necklace of priceless pearls. The
festivities were protracted until a late hour in the morning. It was
said that Josephine gained a social victory that evening, corresponding
with that which Napoleon had gained in the pageant of the day. In these
scenes Hortense shone with great brilliance. She was young, beautiful,
graceful, amiable, witty, and very highly accomplished. In addition to
this, she was the stepdaughter of the First Consul, who was ascending in
a career of grandeur which was to terminate no one could tell where.

During Napoleon's absence in Egypt Josephine had purchased the beautiful
estate of Malmaison. This was their favorite home. The chateau was a
very convenient, attractive, but not very spacious rural edifice,
surrounded with extensive grounds, ornamented with lawns, shrubbery, and
forest-trees. With the Tuileries for her city residence, Malmaison for
her rural retreat, Napoleon for her father, Josephine for her mother,
Eugene for her brother; with the richest endowments of person, mind, and
heart, with glowing health, and surrounded by admirers, Hortense seemed
now to be placed upon the very highest pinnacle of earthly happiness.

Josephine and Hortense resided at Malmaison when Napoleon made his ten
months' campaign into Italy, which was te